Days at Sea

[Paul Motter]

I am looking at some Seabourn itineraries and I see that some of the longer cruises - 12 to 16 days, have anywhere from 40 to 60% days at sea.

What are the days at sea like on Seabourn? What is there to do - on both the big ships and the smaller ones.

[nadine at sea]

What fun thing to do on sea days? One word - Spa! But only one the big ships.

[Paul Motter]

You know Nadine - that is SO true.

My wife is a professional masseuse - used to work for the Phoenix Suns. There is nothing like a great massage to make you feel better for days.

I am often amazed at how much difference it makes. I wish more people knew that.

I have had varied results from cruise ship spas, though. So I had my wife write an article about "how to get the most from a cruise ship spa."

The main thing to know is that most masseuses on cruise ships do "Swedish" massage, which is not the same as a deep tissue or stretching massage.

When you feel what a really good deep tissue massage can do you know the difference. So you have to ASK for that when you go to a ship spa, or else take your chances that you get a good masseuse.

[nadine at sea]

I agree totally with you.

Thought I should add for anyone who wanted to try massages for the first time on their cruise, plan it so you will not have been drinking alcohol before hand. Just plenty of water. Otherwise you may leave the massage reeling instead of floating.

[Paul Motter]

Right Nadine...

what many people do not realize is that a GOOD massage will release toxins stored in your muscles (sometimes for a long time) into your bloodstream, and you can even feel a little sick after a good massage.

Sometimes I have to go to bed after one, or I just feel achy.

If you feel woozy and achy after a massage it generally means it was a good massage - but the water is very important because it washes those toxins out of your system. You will feel a lot better when you wake up.

[Trip]

Just sayin...I have never had a massage!!

[Iamboatman]

I always seem to run out of time on sea days on Seabourn. It is not that the days are jam packed with things to do, it is that you are put into a sort of "kick back and Seabourn takes care of me" mode.

There are some differences between the smaller and larger ships, but for the most part a sea day on either can consist of a leisurely breakfast al fresco or, more formally, in The Restaurant followed by a morning lecture or soak in a whirlpool with a Bloody Mary or champagne and then, fully relaxed, a trip to the spa...or even a complimentary 10 minute Massage Moment on deck.

After a late morning siesta, book or chat, a nice lunch is served followed by a cooking demonstration and the blood sport of Trivia.

There is a conflict later in the afternoon between High Tea (awesome scones and wonderful loose tea varieties...as well as finger sandwiches, etc.) and that second soak in the whirlpool with champagne. A later afternoon lecture is usually available. Bridge is usually also organized. Speaking of bridge, bridge tours are offered.

On most cruises there is a Galley Market Lunch which is an incredible feast which on the smaller ships is set up in the Galley. On the larger ships that isn't really practical, but it is still quite an event in the Restaurant.

All of this is followed by cocktails and a chat at the Sky Bar, then after getting ready for dinner, drinks in The Club followed by dinner and then an evening show and/or dancing, casino, etc.

See, it is a very busy day...and you get to do it more than once!

[nadine at sea]

Also lectures and on Odyssey we had dance lessons to work off all that food!
Agreeing to attend dance lessons almost always guarantees spousal bonus points.

[Paul Motter]

I have heard about the "bloodsport" trivia from Bruce Goode (a PR representative for Seabourn).

What does this mean - you get 50 lashes for a wrong answer?

Seriously, I like games that require knowledge, like "Who invaded Spain from the south in the 1500's?"

But when it is just obscure nonsense like "what is Tony Curtis' real name?" I couldn't care less.

I think it is Bernie Sanders. And the first one is "The Moops"

[Trip]

Bernie Schwartz..I win!

[GrannyLorr]

I was about to say I must be the "odd one out" until I read that Trip also has never had a massage. To be perfectly honest, I couldnt think of anything worse! Just absolutely hate the idea of all the stuff they do to you in those spas! Mud on the face, fruit stuck in your eyes instead of in your drink, bloody lumps of hot rock stuck on your back....no thanks! :???: So I am pretty sure I will never spend anytime in a Seabourn spa! I am also just as sure I will never spend any time in a Seabourn gym!! I have sailed ummmmm about 170 days and have NEVER even peeped inside the gym! Hubby did once.....took the luggage to get weighed.....

I LOVE sea days.....these are the best part of our cruises. This is when we can really relax and do almost nothing! We love it when we have 4 or 5 sea days in a row....doesnt happen very often.
We never sleep late, but have a long leisurely breakfast in the Dining room.....we may go to a lecture or cooking demo etc....or just visit the library and grab another book...sometimes we play trivia....sometimes not. By then its time for lunch....then usually back to the suite to read and snooze...sometimes we manage to fit in afternoon tea, (the bread pudding is very good). Some days we might spend the afternoon in the Observation Lounge, hubby reads and snoozes and I might sew or knit or use my computer to write my blog...then it must be about time for a bubble bath before getting ready for dinner! Dinner is again usually long and leisurely and quite often we are still there at 10pm....
For us, the more sea days the better! I have just counted up how many sea days we have on our next cruise....27!! Then we also have a few places we go to more than once, so some of those we will just stay on the ship and treat as a "sea day" too......cant wait!

[GrannyLorr]

Trivia can be fun if you have the "right" group. We usually have a great time, but have had the occasional pain in the butt person on our team. One cruise, we were about to throw one member off our team as he spoilt the whole day with his cut throat attitude, it was just ridiculous how he carried on....we were playing for a bloody book mark for heavens sake, not a bloody cattle station!! Anyway he got the hint and behaved. We did threaten to throw him overboard if he EVER got an answer wrong.....he shut up a lot more then!
We were told however on a cruise, who NEVER to have on your team because of this sick sort of attitude......the name starts with D...ends in N...and has an A in the middle!! Apparently a lot of people think he is a real joke (or is that jerk?) at Trivia!

[Paul Motter]

Tell me about this jerky trivia character with the anagramatic name...

What does he do - steal the bookmark, wear it like a headband dare people to take it away from him in the dining room?

"Go ahead, try to take my bookmark! try it, try it!"

I have not seen Seabourn Trivia... are you allowed to shout out answers without conferring with your team first?

I have to say I agree about SOME spa treatments. Telling you some kind of ionizer is going to melt three inches from your waist borders on quackery IMHO.

[Trip]

Granny that's funny....I am pretty good at trivia, often get a phone call from someone trying to think of an answer....I have seen people get a bit bonkers with trivia too...

[Paul Motter]

I'm good at Crosswords, and I used to kill at Trivial Pursuit, until the 80s version came out - then I died.

I can do an airline magazine crossword puzzle in under 30 minutes, in ink. Usually.

I like it when cruise lines do intellectual pursuits. I don't think they can enough of them. Lectures, games, lessons, etc.

[nadine at sea]

Trivia is definitely a blood sport but is a lot fun when played with humour.

Here's an example from my last Seabourn cruise.

Question: For whom was the Empire State building lit up in 1990?
Answer from one team that did not know the answer: King Kong

[Trip]

On the right subject, I would love to listen to a lecturer..for me a good sense of humor would be key.

Love to see Rick Steves, or Rudy Maxa, share their travel stories.

[GrannyLorr]

We always get a lot of laughs from those who dont know, when they come up with great answers!

Last cruise we had a question something like "Who was the main character in the book "A Missionary Position".....of course all our minds went in the wrong direction....but my husband said "Mother Theresa"...one of our team who is "overly" religious was horrified...."we cant say that!!!" So instead we put "Linda Lovelace".....Mother Theresa was correct!!

[nadine at sea]

Ha! That will teach them to doubt Granny's husband.

I think if you are going to be wrong at Seabourn trivia .. go big!

[Paul Motter]

I am on the Ruday Maxa radio as a guest quite frequently - probably five times in the last year. Last time was the Carnival Splendor incident.

Empire state building in 1990? Princess Diana?

I don't know. They light it up all the time.

[nadine at sea]

That was my group's answer! Not as funny as King Kong and not right either.

Apparently Nelson Mandela was correct.

So now that you've played, and know two of the possible answers, are you willing to try the game at sea?

I think if you've played you only remember the more obscure questions. I'm sure my team must have had some answers right??

[GrannyLorr]

suppose I had better Google Ruday Maxa......:???:

[Peyton]

I just booked on my first Seabourn cruise. My first cruise at the "all inclusive, luxury" level. So the topic interested me greatly.

But most the posts: trivia, crossword puzzles, and personal gripes against another cruise mate?

"Hot topic" yes. Content worthy of a bold front page link for "Seabourn, Days at Sea?" not really.

[Iamboatman]

Let us know what it is that you are curious, interested or otherwise want to know about and we will do our best to answer them and create some interesting discussion. (I won't be responding until after the New York Jets game today, but I will answer.)

[Paul Motter]

The "hot topic" was meant to be simply "days at sea" not necessarily "Seabourn days at sea."

I agree with you, Bingo, trivia, etc do not exactlyumake for an exciting day at sea for me, either. I believe that was why the post was asked as a question (not a statement of fact).

Queen Mary 2 has great days at sea.

[GrannyLorr]

Those who like or need to be entertained a lot, obviously should take more care with the cruise itinerary they book, and chose one with a lot of ports and on a larger ship that caters for more entertaining. We dont need any of that so the sea days are the perfect way for us to relax and do nothing....well other than eat and sleep! So the more sea days the better. Even though hubby has been retired now for 5 years, we still seem to be too damn busy, never have enough time to do what we have to do, so for us a cruise is the time we DONT have to do anything.
On our first cruise we had 5 sea days in a row....one women complained bitterly to me about it....said she would go stir crazy....do you think she read the itinerary properly? We had no idea how we would feel about 5 sea days in a row, as we had NEVER been on a cruise before, but at least we had read the itineray so had no reason to complain.
We are lucky there are so many ships out there to choose from......something for everybody!